NATO Secretary General holds talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen praised His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan for his country’s valued security partnership during talks at NATO headquarters on Tuesday, 17 April 2012.

The Secretary General told King Abdullah that Jordan remains an essential partner for NATO in the region. He said that the 28 Alliance member states and Jordan face the same security challenges, including terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and failed states. As such, the two must work together to bolster future security.

Mr. Fogh Rasmussen and the King used their meeting to review cooperation between NATO and Jordan through its Mediterranean Dialogue partnership and the country’s valuable contribution to NATO missions. The two also discussed next month’s NATO Chicago summit.

Jordan is one of NATO’s most active partner nations under the Mediterranean Dialogue programme. The two sides have developed an ambitious Individual Cooperation Programme, which seeks to enhance cooperation in such areas as military-to-military ties, language training and civil emergency planning. Jordan also benefits from two Trust Fund projects which have been used to enhance the operational and technical capacity of the Jordanian Armed Forces.

Jordan is an important security partner, contributing to NATO led- missions in Afghanistan, the Balkans and most recently in Libya, where Jordan’s contribution and support was very important.